What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sticker Star is a flawed game. The sticker system is not balanced well and makes the game harder than it should be, the story is the worst out of all four games, and the lack of any point to random battles is just dumb, but I have to say I still enjoyed playing it. The music is brilliant, the art style is the best of any Paper Mario, the humor remains great, the world map and focus on puzzles was a great move, and the usage of the stickers (especially special stickers) is really cool.

So, I liked it. Didn't love it, but I can see why Paper Mario and RPG fans would hate it. It isn't really like any of the other games in the series.

All that said, I would never recommend it to anyone. It's far too convoluted a game to be able to know if anyone would like it. I don't think it's some sort of Superman 64 level disaster, however.

[Avaitor]

I have no real nostalgia for TYYD, but I do prefer it to Paper Mario, even though I still love that as well. I still have yet to finish the final fight in TYYD, though. Damn mid-fight unskippable dialogue scene.

Those are the only RPG/Paper Mario games that I've played, though. But I have been wanting to get SMRPG on the VC, and I still hope to find SPM for $10 or less.

[talonmalon333]

The only Mario RPG games I'm particularly a fan of are the first two Paper Mario games, with TTYD being my favorite. This is an opinion that has been constant since I played them.

I also like Super Paper Mario, though it's not really an RPG. The gameplay is pretty adequate. But the story, writing, characters, and humor are top notch. It's enjoyable for a single playthrough.

[Foggle]

Trying to play MGS: Portable Ops now, and wow... this game has aged terribly. Between the awkward controls, horrible frame rate, generic level design, slooooow gameplay, and stupid inventory system, Kojima's lack of involvement is noticeable. It's a decent attempt at putting a full 3D stealth game on the PSP, and the story is somewhat interesting, but that's it.

Think I'm just going to skip this one. Can't believe I used to love it.

[talonmalon333]

I bet that game would be better if they released it in one of the HD collections, though if the level design actually isn't so great, not much can be done to save that.

[Foggle]

Yeah, it's not really that bad of a game... the level designs are rudimentary and the inventory system is puzzling, but the biggest problems (controls and frame rate) could have easily been fixed with an HD (or even PS2) port. I don't think Kojima likes the game very much, though, which is why it remains exclusive to the PSP. Unfortunately, I just don't have the patience for a game where you must consistently replay five molasses-slow minutes when you get spotted by enemies you can't even see due to the camera being mapped to the fucking D-pad. The third-person mode was an excellent addition to Subsistence, but if there was any Metal Gear which would have actually benefited from the old-school camera angles, it's this one.

[gunswordfist]

PSP's downfall was not having two analog sticks. It makes no sense.

[Foggle]

PSP's downfall was not having two analog sticks. It makes no sense.

For sure. It has a pretty excellent selection of 2D games (mostly JRPGs) and 3D games where you don't really need two analog sticks (like Valkyria Chronicles 2 & 3), but they were pushing console-style experiences for the first few years the PSP was out, and I think that's what killed it outside of Japan. I mean, getting to play MGS and Ratchet & Clank on the go was amazing at the time, but the games just don't hold up in hindsight. The most infuriating thing about Portable Ops, though, is that most of the Metal Gear games released up until that point only used one analog stick to begin with... and yet they still decided to go with that D-pad shit.

[gunswordfist]

That sounds horrible. And I'm surprised to hear that PSP did better in Japan. I just assumed US liked it more due to its games seeming to appeal to American audiences more (shooters, God Of War, etc.)

[talonmalon333]

Developers really need to learn that portable games can't be developed with the same mentality as console games. The Metal Gear games seemed to understand that to a certain extent by not allowing cutscenes long enough to drain entire batteries, as well as having shorter missions. But Portable Ops really should have been developed with the overhead camera.

[gunswordfist]

PSP seemed like a lowrent PS1 to me so I was never really interested. Back then, portable devices should have just been mostly 2D powerhouses with clever exceptions.

[Foggle]

And I'm surprised to hear that PSP did better in Japan. I just assumed US liked it more due to its games seeming to appeal to American audiences more (shooters, God Of War, etc.)

The majority of its games are actually JRPGs and anime stuff. They just didn't get any press outside of Japan.

[gunswordfist]

OK, now that makes sense.

[Foggle]

Decided to continue with Portable Ops. After that amazing trailer dropped two years ago, I made the decision to play every canon Metal Gear in release order leading up to Phantom Pain's release. I mustn't let my resolve falter!

I don't understand a lot of the design decisions in this game. MG gameplay is always moderately free-form with lots of cool gadgets and weapons to use, but this one lets you hold... four. Also, while the stamina meter requiring you to eat was cool in MGS3, it completely sucks in the wildlife-less PO, as it basically necessitates ration grinding. And having to slowly drag KO'd enemies back to your truck for recruitment is so boring. There's apparently a way to speed things up, but I can't figure it out. Of course, these problems are only compounded by the mediocre level design and torturous camera controls. argh

[Nel_Annette]

Decided to pop in one of the anime weeaboo "buy this Compile Heart game because pretty anime girls on cover" games I bought, Fairy Fencer F. Dear god. Liam from Super Best Friends was right. Compile Heart games are shlock. The characters are overly annoying. The character portraits used in cutscenes are creepy. They slightly move to simulate breathing, but it's just so slight that you question if you're on drugs. The towns and world map are basically portraits with locations you select from a list. The battle system is needlessly complicated.

And the worst part. The framerate. I wanted to turn the game off about halfway through the first dungeon. You finally get the chance to explore the beautiful field they just showed you a picture of (which is not a field once you're actually in it, but a series of paths and "rooms" between large hills that fence you in), and the game runs at a whopping ten frames per second. This game is exclusive to PS3! They only had one system they had to work with, and they can't even get a game with this little going on to 30 fps?! Are you shitting me?

I'm going to probably try and force my way through it, but it's baaaad, man. It's really bad. This really is a case where the only good thing about a game is its character designs. And another Compile Heart game just showed up in the mailbox today, so... yaaaaaay.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that this is one of the games I mentioned in the other thread a week back that has really stupid costume and extra party member dlc. For this shit. Ha!